2.5 The Origin of Death (OB5)

The tragic effect that evolution and its view of death has on evolutionists becomes quite clear. The danger of eternal death is eclipsed, and many people miss the offer of salvation.

The evolutionary view of death underscores and reveals the impossibility
of reconciling evolution with biblical doctrine. This question
will therefore be discussed in detail.

Evolution: The following four basic tenets, substantiated by many
references, can be deduced.

1. Death is an essential prerequisite for evolution: In evolutionary thought,
death plays a fundamental role; it is a necessary precondition for the
succession of postulated events. C.F. von Weizsäcker states [W3], “If
individuals did not die, evolution would not have been possible, and
no new organisms with new characteristics could have originated.
Evolution requires the death of individuals.” Hans Mohr, a biologist
from Freiburg, made a similar statement [M2, p. 12]: “No life could
have existed if there were no death. Death as such was not caused
by evolution. Rather, the death of individuals is required to ensure
the development of the tribe. There is no way past this precept, this
axiom of the doctrine of evolution. Without the death of individuals
there could have been no evolution of life on this earth. If we regard
the evolution of life as a positive result, as ‘the real creation,’ then we
accept our own death as a positive creative factor.” The strong contrast
with the Bible, which explicitly characterizes death as a hostile power,
now becomes clear (1 Cor. 15:26; Rev. 6:8).

2. Death is an invention of evolution: Professor Widmar Tanner of
Regensburg, Germany, who, as a biologist, concerned himself with
the question of death, concluded that the known laws of physics
and chemistry, which also hold for biology, at no point force us to
assume that a biological system must grow old and die. From this
viewpoint he asks, “How and why did death enter our world when
it should not properly be here?” He assumes that evolution itself
invented death as a significant factor [T1, p. 46]: “Aging and length
of life are adaptive phenomena which developed in certain specific
ways for each kind during the course of evolution. . . . The process
of evolution was speeded up substantially by the invention of death.”
He regards the introduction of death as an opportunity for chance
to try out new developments.

The anti-biblical character of evolution becomes quite clear when its advocates elevate death to be the creator of life.

For Ludwig von Bertalanffy, death is the calculated price that had to
be paid for upward development, that “dynamic drama full of tension
and tragic complications.” [B3]: “With great effort life rose up to
increasingly sophisticated levels, paying for each advance. Unicellular
organisms developed into multi-cellular beings, thereby introducing
death.” That which the Bible describes as a judgment on sin is heralded
by evolutionists as a necessary product of evolution [R2, p. 290]:
“Death entered this world when multi-cellular organisms developed;
pain was introduced when the nervous system originated, and fear
was the result of consciousness . . . possessions resulted in worry, and
the development of morality caused doubts and uncertainty.”

3. Death is the creator of life: The anti-biblical character of evolution
becomes quite clear when its advocates elevate death to be the
creator of life. Microbiologist R.W. Kaplan explains this as follows
[K1, p. 236]:

For bisexual organisms this pre-programmed death has an
additional function: The limited life expectancy and the limitations
of sexuality prevent the interchange of genes between
successive generations, that is, between “obsolete” predecessors
and “progressive” descendants. Aging and death prevent
backward fertilization and thus promote evolution. For the
individual, aging and death is unavoidable and distressing,
especially in the case of human beings, but it is the price that
had to be paid for our existence, through evolution.

Tanner also emphasizes the creative role of death [T1, p. 51]: “It is
not a very comforting thought that man would probably not have
developed if there were no death. But when it comes to aging and
death, one should not expect any consolation from a biologist.” Hans
Mohr answers his own question about the developmental program
that invariably leads to death, as follows [M1, p. 12]: “Because our
kind, because Homo sapiens came into being as a result of evolution.
The temporal limits of individual life is the unavoidable prerequisite
for the emergence of man.”

4. Death, the final and absolute termination of life: According to
evolutionary doctrines, life is a condition of matter based solely on
physical and chemical laws (M Eigen). This reduction of reality to
exclusively material phenomena leaves no room for life after death.
Man is reduced to a biological machine, and his death is on a level
with that of any organism. In the cogs and mechanisms of evolution,
the purpose of death is to give rise to new life. A person’s life is
regarded as a mere contribution to the progress of evolution [K1, p.
236]. Even when death researcher Elisabeth Kübler-Ross refers to life
after death, she only considers its contribution to evolution [K2, p.
185]: “The obligation of personal maturity requires that every single
person contributes to the maturity and evolutionary development
of the entire species. In this way, everyone fulfils his or her destiny.
Death is the key to evolution.” Let us not be misled: What appears
to be Christian terminology proves to be false on closer inspection.

Scientific Objections: Science can tell us nothing about the origin
and essence of death, because it lies beyond the reach of scientific
methods. Consequently, medical science is only concerned with the
precise moment of death (brain death or the cessation of cardiac
activity).

The Bible: The Bible explicitly states that the earth and all life came
into being by direct creative acts of God. When creation was finished,
God pronounced it completed and described it as “very good.” God
is love. He is full of mercy and He created everything through Jesus
(John 1:10; Col. 1:16) and through His wisdom (Col. 2:3). In creation,
He was true to himself, because He does not change (James 1:17; Heb. 13:8). That is completely different from the evolutionary
“strategy” of pain and tears, gruesomeness and death. Anybody who
regards God as the cause of evolution by assuming such a method
of creation distorts God’s nature into something contrary to itself.
Then what is the origin of death if it is neither an evolutionary factor
nor derives from God?

We know that death is everywhere. All people die, including recently
born babies as well as the aged, people with high moral standards,
and also thieves and robbers; believers and unbelievers, all are subject
to death. Such a universal and radical effect must have a universal
cause. The Bible states that death is a result of human sin. Although
God had warned the man and woman (Gen. 2:17), they misused the
freedom given them and thus fell into sin. From that moment, the
law of sin came into effect: “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23).
Man found himself on the thick black line of death as indicated in
Figure 1.

Figure 1: The narrow way and the broad road (Matthew 7:13–14).

Since man’s fall into sin, all people by their very nature
(Rom. 5:14) find themselves on the broad road leading to damnation according
to the Bible (Matt. 7:13). The final destination of this train of death which travels
via the stations of spiritual and physical death, is eternal death. However, it is the
expressed will of God (e.g., 1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9) that man should make, by his
own free will, the decision (Deut. 30:19; Jer. 21:8; 1 Tim. 6:12) to leave the train of
death, pass through the narrow gate (Matt. 7:13–14), and enter the train of life
which will take him to everlasting life. Jesus described this change of trains as the
only and all-important breakthrough to eternal life (John 5:24). To human beings
equipped with a free will, this opportunity presents itself only in their life span
on earth. This “new birth” (John 3:3) is based on Jesus’ death on the cross (John 3:16;
Rom. 5:10) and is directly available for everybody who personally accepts
the “message of the cross” (1 Cor. 1:18).

(Questions asked frequently in this context are: What happens to those people
who have never heard the gospel? How about those who lived before Jesus came?
How about the under-aged [e.g., babies] who have not been able to personally
make a decision? In [G4] I try to give an answer to these questions that is based
on the Bible.)

Since the time of Adam, who was responsible for the introduction
of death (1 Tim. 2:14), all of mankind is bound by this chain of
death: “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and
death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because
all sinned” (Rom. 5:12). Before the fall into sin, death was unknown
throughout creation. Although the Bible unambiguously emphasizes
this fact, the doctrine of a perfect, untainted original creation has
been widely forsaken and sold out in present-day university theology.
They have been misguided by philosophers like Lessing, Kant,
and Hegel, who described man’s fall into sin as the starting point of
man’s history of freedom and progress. But according to the Bible,
man was originally good, with no pain, sickness, or death. Even in
the apocryphal book the Wisdom of Solomon (1:13), it is explicitly
stated that death was not a component of the original creation: “But
God did not make death, nor is he pleased with the destruction of
the living.”

When the Bible refers to death, it is never in the sense of a termination
of existence. The biblical definition of death means “to be separated
from.” Because man’s sin encompass a threefold death (Figure 1), it
implies three kinds of separation:

Spiritual death: At the moment of the first sin, man “died
spiritually,” meaning that he was separated from communion
with God. Today, everybody who does not believe in the
Creator, finds him- or herself in this condition. They have no
relationship with Jesus Christ, nor with the message of the
Bible; they are spiritually dead, although they may be physically
very much alive.

Physical death: A second result was the death of the body:
“. . . until you return to the ground, since from it you were
taken” (Gen. 3:19).

Eternal death: The line of death finally leads to eternal death;
but man’s existence is not terminated (Luke 16:19–31). It is the
final situation of being separated from God. God’s wrath rests
on him, because “the result of one trespass was condemnation
for all men” (Rom. 5:18).

The bridge between God and man collapsed when man sinned.
Anybody who moves along in life without considering this breach
will end up in the abyss because of the threefold death. Is there an
alternative? God is not only wrathful toward sin, but He is a God
of love who loves the sinner. Anybody can leave the train which is
speeding toward the destination of “eternal death” because of man’s
sin, and cross over to the train of life moving toward the destination
called “eternal life.”

Eternal life or eternal death is the final destination of our imperishable
existence; we have been created for eternity. Which way we go
is our choice as free creatures: “I have set before you [eternal] life and
[eternal] death, blessings and curses. Now choose life” (Deut. 30:19).
It is abundantly clear that God’s will and purpose for us is life.

The following simple but extremely important corollary can be derived
from Figure 1:

If you have only been born once (physical birth), then you
die twice (the body dies first, followed by eternal death); but
if you have been born twice (physical birth and born-again
spiritually), then you only die once (physical death)!

The biblical doctrine of redemption is very closely linked to the
doctrine of death (Rom. 5:12, 14; 6:23; 1 Cor. 15:21). Belief in the
Son of God frees us from the damnatory judgment and assures us
of eternal life: “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent
me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over
from [spiritual] death to [eternal] life” (John 5:24).

When considering the implications of this decision, the tragic effect
that evolution and its view of death has on evolutionists becomes
quite clear. The danger of eternal death is eclipsed, and many people
miss the offer of salvation. Adherents of theistic evolution accept the
evolutionary view of death. Then one assumes that God employed
this hostile power (1 Cor. 15:26) to create living beings, but the New
Testament earnestly warns: “Do not let anyone . . . disqualify you
for the prize” (Col. 2:18).

Did God Use Evolution?

According to the view of theistic evolution, God started the process of evolution and guided and steered it over millions of years. As an information scientist, Werner Gitt critically analyzes and rejects the assumptions and consequences of the doctrine of theistic evolution.

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Answers in Genesis is an apologetics ministry, dedicated to helping Christians defend their faith and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ effectively. We focus on providing answers to questions about the Bible—particularly the book of Genesis—regarding key issues such as creation, evolution, science, and the age of the earth.